Crystal Lake

Manzanar War Relocation Center

San Diego Botanical Gardens

Eastern Sierra

Marisa, who kindly came to visit:


The view of Mono Lake from the Woah Nelly Deli, the only gourmet restaurant located inside a Mobil gas station. The vegetarian offerings were slim (well...kind of slim: I had a delicious garden salad with a tart balsamic dressing, a fresh mango margarita, and a lemon cheesecake) while Marisa ate a fish taco with ginger slaw. Anyone driving through the eastern entrance/exit to Yosemite should plan on stopping for a meal.


Rainbow falls:


The burnt trees around Rainbow Falls, almost twenty years after the "Rainbow Fire" swept through the region:

Is this meant to be a double entendre?

Not sure if the print here is entirely legible...it says, "Garden of Peace & Love" and then in much smaller font, "(and Forgiveness)". I guess forgiveness just isn't as important?

It almost takes away the fun, and ridiculousness, of this window display to pick it apart. The store sells eco-friendly furniture, and I'm guessing that the message here is something along the lines of, "Activism via consumerism is not only possible - it's sexy!"

Whatever is going on here should probably not be taking place in public. Keep looking.

Last two photos included just because they're pretty:

Maybe the best thing about summer

I was on the way back to the kitchen with a tomato I'd just picked and wondered why the scent isn't used more often in perfume. It's sharp, like a citrus, sweet, a little spicy, very fresh. A little like basil or grapefruit, but also grassy. It would probably be hard to place, and blend well with other odors. I'd wear it.

4th of July

I spent 4th of July weekend down in Coronado. It's an island the way Manhattan is an island - which is to say, only technically. Coronado is separated from San Diego by a thin strip of ocean, and connected to the mainland by a single bridge. It's a gorgeous, charming little beach town, famous because Some Like It Hot was filmed there, mostly in and around the Hotel del Coronado:

That's the hotel exterior. It was built in 1888 and felt a little schizophrenic to me - the exterior is so white and airy, but the interior is all heavy dark wood - very dreary and oppressive on a bright July day. Wonderful to view from the distance, or lounge in front of - but when I went inside a couple of times, I wanted to turn right back around and get out as fast as possible.

I was with my cousin Tasha and a friend of hers who is working on a professional photography portfolio, and the interior shots we got are all more suited to a self-important East Coast lakeside villa than a California resort.

Tasha and I:


Just Tasha:


Luckily we didn't spend much time inside. Mostly we did what any self-respecting Californian would do on the 4th of July - we hung out on the beach and strolled the main drag.

This is just a side street but you can see downtown San Diego in the background:

The beach, which is endless and gorgeous:

And me, on the rocks:
Bizarrely enough I heard of Coronado for the first time in New York City - when someone mentioned the hotel as an historic landmark. I've seen Some Like It Hot, too - I guess I just never connected the dots.

In any case, I jumped at the chance to visit and wasn't disappointed. Aside from the fantastic setting, I got some great candid shots while fooling around on Tasha's laptop:


And enjoyed an amazing, improptu Tchaikovsky violin concert. Apparently her grandfather is a musician, a composer, conductor, and performer, and he pulled out a 300 year old Italian violin and performed a few pieces from memory.

back from the dead

I got back from California a few days ago. I was glad to see my family, I always am, but it was a stressful weekend. Mostly because my grandmother has been very ill; I was in the hospital visiting with her for most of Sunday.

On the other hand, I did go to Disneyland with my cousin Galen and his fiancee Lindsay. It's the most time I've spent with Galen in a while, and the most time I've spent with Lindsay ever. It was good company, so the tromping around and the waiting didn't bother me - that's the secret to a good day at Disneyland, good company (or to any other day, really). This is Galen and Lindsay on Splash Mountain:


We got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean for about twenty minutes, in the room with the big fire where all the pirates are singing Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho, A Pirates Life For Me. I think it drove Galen and Lindsay a little crazy but I was in heaven. I couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried. We were right in front of my favorite robot, which is the drunk pirate sitting on the bridge with a very dirty foot.

They've changed the ride around a bit to fit the plot of the movie, and there are Johnny Depp robots hiding in nooks and crannies. I don't mind the changes (I think seeing the different formats intertwine is pretty interesting) but it really screws with the overall narrative of the ride. It used to be a heavy-handed, greed-will-lead-to-death-and-destruction message; now, all of a sudden, all the other pirates die in a haze of booze and chaos while Johnny Depp gets away with the treasure.

(only, if you connect the final tableau of Johnny Depp alone in a room full of gold, there's a direct parallel to the first scenes in the ride, where lonely skeletons clutch at their treasure, suggesting to the viewer that they have achieved an empty victory indeed...)

Anyhow. I also went to Fashion Island with my parents:


(my mother's expression here is absolutely perfect - she makes this face at least ten times a day, or some multiple thereof)

and the beach:

I'm putting in lots of pictures, I think, because I've been inspired the pictures of China over at Miscellany Inc.. They're really extraordinary, and now I'm carrying around my camera for the first time in...ages. I still don't use my digital camera that well, I think I just need practice.

Moving along, there's also the plane ride back to New York:


And a few days ago Melinda and I spent the day together. We went out for brunch at the NoHo Star; I had a butternut squash ravioli that was really good - the sauce was very thin, very buttery, and very lemony. The rich-tart flavor was the perfect counterpoint to the very squashy ravioli, and I have to say it's probably the best execution I've ever tasted of a dish that I order semi-regularly.

Melinda at the NoHo Star:


We went to the Natural History Museum. I wanted to look at the hall of human evolution but it was closed, so we lingered a bit in the hall of south american peoples instead. Pretty spicy, I tell you. But I don't have any pictures. I do, however, have a picture of the seats of the movie theater from when we wandered over to Lincoln Center to see For Your Consideration, which is a nice, kooky dark comedy making fun of Hollywood with a ton of great character actors. To wit:


We got there kind of early and I had time to spare.

OK, that's all for now. Coming up next...book reviews of Ernest Hemingway, David Sedaris, and Michael Chabon.

P.S.: there is a comments feature, hint hint.